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This easy Gingerbread Cake recipe is topped with homemade vanilla cream sauce, bananas, and whipped cream. It could be my favorite holiday cake ever!
Do you love gingerbread? Try our Gingerbread Waffles, Ginger Molasses Cookies, Build a Gingerbread House, or make Gingerbread Cookies!
Why I love this cake:
- Light – The texture of this easy gingerbread cake is perfectly light, fluffy, and moist. Plus, your house will smell of freshly baked gingerbread.
- The Toppings – You must add a drizzle of the vanilla cream sauce, with sliced bananas and whipped cream, to get the full experience!
- Family Favorite – My mom shared this recipe with me from one of her best friends (thanks Kristen!) and its been a highlight of our season ever since.
How to make Gingerbread Cake:
Mix Wet Ingredients: Cream the sugar and butter until smooth. Add the eggs and molasses then mix well.
Stir Dry Ingredients: In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, cloves and salt. Combine the wet and dry ingredients then slowly pour in the hot water and stir until smooth.
Bake: Pour batter into a 9”x 13” pan. Bake gingerbread cake for 20-35 minutes.
Serve: This classic gingerbread cake recipe is delicious by itself (and totally acceptable to eat it as a stand-alone), but I just can't resist the combination of fresh bananas, whipped cream, and the most amazing warm vanilla cream sauce drizzled on top. It's outstanding!
Make Ahead, Storage, and Freezing Instructions:
To Make Ahead: The vanilla cream sauce can be made a few days in advance, stored in the fridge in an airtight container. Rewarm before serving.
To Store: The ginger cake recipe keeps well at room temperature for 2 days, or in the fridge for about a week.
To Freeze: Wrap the gingerbread cake in plastic wrap then aluminum foil, and place in a freezer safe bag or airtight container. Freeze for up to 2 months. Let thaw overnight at room temperature before serving. If you'd like it warm, heat it in the microwave for a few seconds.
More Christmas Treats:
- Peppermint Brownies
- Chocolate Fudge
- Homemade Caramels
- Gingerbread Cookies
- Chocolate Peppermint Bundt Cake
- Red Velvet Bundt Cake
- Super Soft Sugar Cookies
- Chocolate Raspberry Cake
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Recipe
Gingerbread Cake
Ingredients
Gingerbread Cake:
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1 large egg , beaten
- 1 cup unsulphered molasses
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup very hot water
- bananas for topping
- fresh whipped cream , for topping
Vanilla Cream Sauce:
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9×13” pan with cooking spray.
- In a large mixing bowl, cream together sugar and butter until smooth and light.
- Add the egg and molasses then mix well. In a separate bowl, mix the dry ingredients together: flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and salt.
- Add dry ingredients to the wet mixture and stir to combine. Slowly pour in the hot water and stir until smooth (batter will be thin).
- Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 20-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.
- Serve warm, topped with fresh sliced bananas, whipped cream, and vanilla cream sauce.
For the Vanilla Cream Sauce:
- Add sugar, butter and cream to a medium saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring occasionally, until butter has melted.
- Bring mixture to a boil then boil, stirring frequently, for 3-5 minutes. Remove from heat and add vanilla.
- Allow to cool for a few minutes before serving over cake.
Notes
Nutrition
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*I originally shared this recipe November 2015. Updated December 2018 and December 2023.
Amazing recipe 💕 I wanted that wonderful classic flavor upped a notch. This did not disappoint!
1 full cup of unfiltered molasses is way too much. It overpowered the cake. Turned into a molasses cake instead of gingerbread. Might be a good cake if 1/2 the molasses is used and the ginger is doubled.
This is the best tasting and easiest gingerbread recipe that I have ever made.
Thank you for sharing, this is a definite go to recipe on a cold day with a hot cup of coffee!
Family loved this cake. However there is no way this can get close to cooking for 35 minutes. More like 20, 25 would be stretching it.
I made this recipe tonight.I thought it was very good. The cream sauce was not thick. I wish it had been.
Delicious! I was looking for a cozy comfort-food winter dessert to bring to a potluck and this recipe was it! Moist and simple to put together yet elegant.I followed all the instructions as written except I didn’t have enough molasses so I added about a 1/4 cup of golden syrup. As was previously mentioned, I also shortened the bake time by about 8 minutes. A definite winner!
This was outstanding. A perfect Christmas dessert. Easy to make, but tasted special.
Bad news is, I made this recipe at our cabin in Whistler, B.C. I’m not sure what happened but it didn’t rise while baking.
Good news is my grandsons took one look at the result, decided that they looked like brownies, ate them anyway, loved them and asked me to make them again.
I made this cake for a holiday get together and it was amazing!! I followed the recipe exactly except I baked it in one of those fancy Christmas tree bundt cake pans. It looked amazing and did not change much for the back time. I also used peppermint extract in the glaze instead of vanilla to give it a holiday taste. Yum!
That sauce is to DIE for! Wow! Takes gingerbread cake up a whole level! I served it at a party & everyone wants the recipe! (So I’m sending the here of course.) I have diary restrictions so used ghee & coconut milk (full fat) & I substituted 1/3rd cup coconut sugar. Thank you!!!